Heart valve diseases affect approximately 300,000 people worldwide each year. Those diseases translate in abnormal leaflet tissue, for example, excess tissue growth, tissue degradation/rupture, or tissue hardening/calcifying. Those diseases may also translate in abnormal tissue position through the cardiac cycle of the heart, for example, annular dilation or ventricular reshaping. Such abnormal leaflet tissue and abnormal tissue position may lead to degradation in valve function including leakage/blood backflow (valve insufficiency) or resistance to blood forward flow (valve stenosis).
A valve replacement procedure is a minimally invasive surgical procedure in which a patient's defective heart valve is repaired. Thus, the abnormal leaflet tissue or the abnormal tissue position may be repaired in order to restore operability of the heart valve. In a valve replacement procedure, a valve prosthesis is delivered to the patients native heart valve without removing the patient's native heart valve. Instead, the valve prosthesis replaces the functions of the native heart valve.